The Inseparable Princes

88. The Conjuring Trick

A/N: I'm skipping a little part. I'm not interested in this guy called Makaraksha, okay? Okaaaay! XD

"He has been killed too!" boomed Ravana. "What kind of useless generals do I have here?! They are losing to mere hermits from the forests? What is happening! That Ram killed him in a matter of few minutes, you're telling me?" The messenger who had just informed Ravana nodded in the affirmative. Ravana thumped his fist on his throne's armrest, standing up furiously. "INDRAJIT!" he roared. The Prince walked before him, head bowed, and hands joined respectfully. "GO AND KILL THEM! You can go in a visible or an invisible form! Do whatever you want! BUT I WANT THEM BOTH DEAD, UNDERSTAND? BY HOOK OR BY CROOK! I WANT THEM DEAD!" he yelled, making a handful of his only ministers deaf. Indrajit, however, grinned.

"As you wish, Pitashree. They will both be dead. Their corpses will be at your feet by the end of today." he said, his voice threateningly soft, and the grin on his face conveying a lot.

★★★

Once again, Indrajit performed his Yagya, a sacrificial ritual he always performed before going into the battlefield. Once again, he became invisible, along with all his weapons, his chariot, the horses, the charioteer, and basically anything that came along with him. Just like the previous time, he invoked a Brahmastra to shield all of his equipment and himself too. By hook or by crook, his father had said, and so he would do it.

He entered the battlefield, invisible just like the last time, and randomly started shooting ten thousand arrows on the monkeys who were fighting the demon soldiers, just like they did everyday. Obviously, this time, they weren't as confused as they had been the previous time, and tried their best to use the shields of the demon soldiers to defend themselves from the arrows. Yes, Indrajit still killed in thousands, but he was doing so at a slower pace, which meant that he would technically only be able to kill less soldiers totally.

While he continued to shoot at the soldiers, he had some designated arrows, stronger, more impactful ones for the brothers, those that were meant to kill them. Rama and Lakshmana, however, did not seem to be affected by them, despite being pierced all over. They both, in turn, shot a number of arrows towards what they thought was the source. But when Indrajit, hiding from the Princes, kept shifting his position, his flying horses and chariot not making even the slightest noise, the Princes didn't exactly know how to counter him.

Indrajit, however, killed in thousands. The monkeys simply collapsed when an arrow invoked with the Brahmastra penetrated into their flesh. Eventually, the arrows that Rama and Lakshmana were having to face were increasing considerably, and although they weren't good enough to make them fall, they were good enough to enrage Lakshmana, who, to be fair, had been very patient with this Crown Prince of Lanka.

"Bhaiya!" he roared, pulling an arrow out of his left arm violently, making himself bleed some more. Rama turned to him, and immediately knew that his brother was extremely furious, for his eyes were actual infernos, and his jaw was clenched far too tightly. "I have had enough!" he said, his voice dangerously soft. Rama raised a brow, while pushing away some of the arrows coming his way with his bow. Lakshmana drew an arrow out of his quiver and placed it on his bow, looking at his brother. "I'm going to invoke the Brahmastra. If that is what shields him, Bhaiya, that is what will destroy him too. I'm going to end the entire population of demons today! They shall all die-"

"No, Lakshman!" said Rama, the calmness in his voice somehow instantly cooling down Lakshmana to some extent. Lakshmana furrowed his eyebrows, narrowing his eyes, while Rama shook his head convincingly. "You will not do such a thing. Why do you want to kill all demons when you can get a pretty similar result by killing just one? We need Meghanad killed, and that is all for now." Lakshmana did not seem very convinced, though. "One shouldn't kill somebody who isn't fighting, or is fleeing, or is hiding. Or one who is intoxicated, or one who seeks refuge. You know that, don't you?" said Rama wisely, to which Lakshmana nodded, looking slightly ashamed about how he had let his anger overcome his rationality. "We shall kill Meghanad, but we'll do it in the right way."